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Shawne Merriman out in San Diego

The San Diego Chargers just put out a release saying that oft-injured linebacker Shawne Merriman was put on the injured reserve and he will be released when he is healthy.

Merriman
The release said Merriman, 26, was put on the IR with a calf injury and a minor-injury designation (less than six-week injury), meaning he must be released when he regains his health. Should he clear waivers at that point, the Chargers could try to bring him back, but that may be unlikely. There had been talk that the team was tiring of Merriman’s unreliable health.

Merriman re-injured his calf against Oakland. He was limited in the first five weeks of the season. Merriman missed all but one game in 2008 because of a major knee injury that hampered him last season. Merriman had a league-leading 39.5 sacks in his first three NFL seasons. He has had four sacks since.

The Chargers have been ravaged by injuries at linebacker this season. Merriman is the fourth linebacker to be put on the IR. Antwan Applewhite will start while 2009 first-round pick Larry English heals from a broken foot. He will likely be out for, at least, two more weeks.

Re: Shawne Merriman out in San Diego

By Michael Blunda
It was common knowledge that OLB Shawne Merriman would not be back with the Chargers next season. For that reason, his calf injury proved to be fairly costly.

A three-time Pro Bowler who looked to be on his way to a Hall of Fame career after notching 17 sacks in 12 games in 2006, Merriman has been largely ineffective since undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, which forced him to miss all but one game in 2008. Returning in '09, he had just four sacks in 14 contests that season and didn't have any in ’10. Dealing with a calf injury suffered in Week Three, he was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 13 with a minor-injury designation, which means he must be released by the team when he's healthy enough to play again.

From what we hear, GM A.J. Smith was trying hard not to lose Merriman while getting nothing in return. Smith had been working the phones to get a trade in place prior to the league's Oct. 19 trading deadline, but the fact that the sixth-year linebacker was hurt made him a very difficult commodity to move. Smith also had the option to hold on to Merriman for now and let him depart as a free agent in the offseason, a maneuver which could have netted San Diego a compensatory draft pick. However, with LBs Donald Butler, James Holt and Jyles Tucker all on I.R., the team couldn't afford to waste a roster spot on an injured Merriman and ultimately had to cut him loose.

While there were a number of factors that led to Merriman's time in San Diego to come to an inglorious end — notably, his ever-souring relationship with Smith — we're told that his inability to stay healthy and contribute was his undoing. Given the injury issues the Bolts have had at linebacker, they would have been willing to stick with Merriman's diminishing skills, but he simply couldn't get back on the field, constantly dealing with nagging injuries for the past two seasons.

Still just 26 years old, Merriman likely will catch on somewhere else once released. However, no team will think about giving him a long-term contract until he proves that he can play at full strength over a prolonged period of time. What was once a very promising career now will have to be rejuvenated elsewhere.
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Re: Shawne Merriman out in San Diego

The Colts could definately use him if he gets healthy again... our OLB's are very suspect... might as well say our defense is very suspect, but at one time Merriman was unstoppable, I wouldn't mind giving hem a chance on our team, especially with the injury problems that we traditionally have on our defense.

The Colts could definately use him if he gets healthy again... our OLB's are very suspect... might as well say our defense is very suspect, but at one time Merriman was unstoppable, I wouldn't mind giving hem a chance on our team, especially with the injury problems that we traditionally have on our defense.

The funny thing is... If I was making a list of teams that Merriman would fit well with, the Colts and Bears would be dead last on the list. That is unless he could play DE, and even then he'd be a backup for both teams...

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Re: Shawne Merriman out in San Diego

The funny thing is... If I was making a list of teams that Merriman would fit well with, the Colts and Bears would be dead last on the list. That is unless he could play DE, and even then he'd be a backup for both teams...

lol he would start over Hunter Hillmayer / Nick Roach plus both of these guys are hurt lot.

The funny thing is... If I was making a list of teams that Merriman would fit well with, the Colts and Bears would be dead last on the list. That is unless he could play DE, and even then he'd be a backup for both teams...

He is not only a Blitz every down LB, yeah he blitzed a lot but he also was a athletic and physical LB something that the colts could used in their scheme if he doesn't work out oh well.

I think the Chargers are just done with dealing with the whole situation and everything that has came along with him during his time in SD. Who knows how good he will be when he is healthy, hasn't been healthy in a long time... kind of like the Ladamian Tomlinson effect... once he got healthy he went off. Maybe Shawn has a little bit left in him.